With Atlanta Dream co-owner Kelly Loeffler still processing things in the wake of her Georgia senate loss to Reverend Raphael Warnock, speculation has already began about a possible post-Loeffler (and Mary Brock) future for the franchise.
More within the WNBA family are being asked about Loeffler and what her future with the franchise and the league could be. Cheryl Reeve, coach and general manager of the Minnesota Lynx, chimed in with words on her podcast.
Cheryl Reeve on Dream/Loeffler, on the latest Cheryl Reeve Show episode:
“I don’t think you’ll see the ownership continue. How it ends… might be done a little different than in the Donald Sterling case.”
— Kurtis (@fromkurtis) January 7, 2021
Elizabeth Williams, who is on Atlanta’s roster, was also asked about Loeffler recently when she was a guest on the Around the Rim podcast with LaChina Robinson.
Elizabeth Williams on the latest Around the Rim pod, about Kelly Loeffler:
“I think it’s fair to say that we’ll see some changes moving forward. Even on her part, it doesn’t make sense for her to own a team at this point, based on…
— Kurtis (@fromkurtis) January 14, 2021
…the fact that her values don’t align with a lot of our league’s values and our players’ values.”
— Kurtis (@fromkurtis) January 14, 2021
More from Williams on Dream ownership in today’s @BurnItDownPod:
“I am expecting there to be a change in ownership. That’s very fair to say… I wouldn’t expect her to want to remain as co-owner either.”
Go listen to the full interview with @linzsports! Really great listen.
— Kurtis (@fromkurtis) January 14, 2021
Then…there’s a general consensus.
Consensus from players I’ve spoken to is essentially “Why would she want to own a team in the league that just booted her from the Senate?”
They have a point.
— Meredith Cash (@mercash22) January 14, 2021
And … a counterpoint.
love the interest in buying the dream, but they aren’t for sale.
Hear me out….
put that money up to bring back a franchise 👀👀😇
— Lexie Brown (@lexiekiah_4) January 7, 2021
While it was LeBron James’ initial tweet about forming an Atlanta Dream investment group in the wake of Loeffler’s loss that really got sports talking about a possible sale, the Minnesota Lynx’s Lexie Brown has been a key voice on WNBA Twitter throwing cold water on these hot flames of speculation.
It remains to be seen if a sale would actually take place even though the New York Times mentioned in a recent story that has been interested in a possible sale.
Hypothetically, let us imagine that the Dream are for sale. Such news would be the reason for plenty of elation throughout the WNBA family as it means that the league (and its commissioner Cathy Engelbert) would no longer have to deal with the public relations albatross that is the ousted senator from Georgia.
Two recent case studies could be a lens into how a sale could unfold – the San Antonio Stars’ sale and move to Las Vegas, becoming the Aces and the New York Liberty’s sale from James Dolan and Madison Square Garden to the Joe and Clara Wu Tsai investment group.
When news of the Stars sale broke, it hit us like a ton of bricks. There was very little speculation about a possible sale even though the Stars were plagued by a poor record and even worse attendance at the AT&T Center. San Antonio had found itself in WNBA purgatory which is why the sale to MGM Resorts took place, many felt it made sense and gave the franchise a stable ownership group ala what the Connecticut Sun enjoy with the Mohegan Tribe and playing at Mohegan Sun Arena.
That franchise is apparently very good at keeping sale negotiations behind closed doors as the recently announced pact to sell the Aces to Raiders owner Mark Davis was kept completely in the dark as well.
Even though MSG had the Liberty’s suitors operating under non-disclosure agreements, much of the process that eventually culminated in the Lib being bought by Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai played out in the public. There is virtually no such thing as a secret sale process in New York City given it is the No. 1 media market and lots of WNBA media is based in New York. After all, MSG itself set the tone for how the Liberty process would play out by issuing a press release that the Liberty were for sale and there was even speculation that Dolan was attempting to sell the franchise even before the official announcement.
Add to the fact that there was palpable backlash to shoving the Lib into the Westchester County Center (a two-hour Metro-North ride from Madison Square Garden) plus New York being the W’s flagship franchise plus the Tsai deal not being official until prior to the 2019 season plus the entirety of the WNBA family praying that he would move the Liberty to Barclays and one gets an extremely public process.
Expect a Dream sale to play out more like the Liberty’s did as opposed to how the Stars process played out (almost entirely in the dark before the move to Vegas actually occurred). We are already seeing it with WNBA notables commenting on Loeffler’s future with the team and league in the wake of her Senate defeat to Warnock. It will possibly even gain mainstream media coverage given her time in the U.S. Senate.
If it turns out that the Dream are for sale, one element of speculation will be if the team will stay in Atlanta. A knock against the Dream is that it has not had the robust attendance success (as of late) that other teams like the Los Angeles Sparks, Phoenix Mercury, Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm have enjoyed in recent seasons before the 2020 campaign which was in the bubble at Florida’s IMG Academy.
Atlanta moving to the Gateway Center Arena in College Park, approximately a 20-minute drive (give or take ATL traffic) was akin to the Washington Mystics’ move to DC’s Entertainment and Sports Arena, a smaller venue outside of the immediate city center with less seats that can provide a more intimate setting with louder crowds.
One of those who replied to the LeBron tweet was a Golden State Warriors board member and San Francisco has been the subject of WNBA speculation for years, especially given what NBA people have had to say about the Bay Area.
Our guess is that the W would rather enter San Francisco via expansion rather than a relocated franchise. The WNBA does not want to be in the business of moving franchises anymore (or at least it should not). San Antonio to Las Vegas was a case of the WNBA striking iron while the appetite to bring major sports to Sin City (see Golden Knights, Raiders) was white-hot. Constant franchise relocation is not a way to promote stability which is what Engelbert wants when selling the W to potential sponsors and starting the expansion conversation at WNBA headquarters.
It has found relatively stable ground over the last few years with its incumbent 12 franchises (which is what she says is needed before the expansion conversation can really take place) and wants to keep that going.
At this point, it may be better to err on the side of caution and believe that any talk of a sale may simply be just talk. But if there is news of a sale – or news of actual investment groups interested in purchasing the franchise, our guess is we will know.
Meaning any James Dolan-style NDAs will be rendered useless in this case.
